(7 Mar 2002)
1. Walk out view of US President George Bush, followed by Dick Cheney and Colin Powell
2. Reporters
3. SOUNDBITE: (English) George W. Bush, U.S. President
"Recent ideas put forward by the Crown Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia have created an opening for discussing this broader peace and for the normalisation of relations between Arab states in Israel. The United States is committed to exploring this opening. Because of our commitment to peace I am sending General Tony Zinni back to the region next week to work with Israel and the Palestinians to begin implementing the Tenet work plan so that the parties can renew their efforts for a broader peace."
4. Cheney, Bush and Powell at podium
5. SOUNDBITE: (English) George W. Bush, U.S. President
"Well we've had a lot of consultations over the last week, week and a half. We have been on the phone a lot and we believe now is the time for General Zinni to move back into the region. There are no assurances. That is not going to prevent our government from trying to get the parties to agree to Tenet, trying to reduce the cycle of violence. Obviously there is a reason why and that is because as a result of consultations we believe there is a possibility we can have an impact."
6. Bush advisors
7. SOUNDBITE (English) George W. Bush, US President
"Well first of all I fully understand a nation wanting to defend itself. I can appreciate that, after all, we are in defence of ourselves right now. And I can understand the strong desire to enhance security for a people. And I believe that. I believe what we are saying though is that there has got to be a vision for peace, there has got to be more than security. There has got to be an attempt to achieve a lasting peace. And I hope that my friend Prime Minister Sharon agrees with me, with that assessment. I think he does. I think he recognises that you cannot achieve peace by allowing violence to escalate or causing violence to escalate. So on the one hand I fully understand his need to protect the people of Israel and on the other hand we look forward to working with him to get into the Tenet plan. He thought the Tenet plan was a good plan. He agreed that the Mitchell plan was the proper course of action."
8. Bush walking back into Oval Office
STORYLINE:
President George W Bush announced he is sending Middle East envoy Anthony Zinni back to the region in a bid to halt the spiralling violence.
He acknowledged there were no assurances the move would lead to a resumption of peace talks but said that would not prevent the U-S government from trying.
Bush decided to dispatch Zinni to the troubled region after his national security team advised that more direct U-S involvement could help break an accelerating cycle of Palestinian suicide bombings and Israeli reprisals.
Bush suggested the best path back to diplomacy was for both sides to embrace a truce plan put forth last year by C-I-A Director George Tenet.
Under the proposal, Israel would lift its sweeping travel bans on Palestinians and pull back troops to positions they
held before fighting broke out in September 2000.
Bush also praised the recent plan proposed by Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah, describing it as an important opening.
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